.43 
C9l1exp4 

cop. 


OAKSTHDSF 


lo»c  :  •   I 


1 


1'LANAi  [ON 


I    itter  Sanborn  Author  Mai 

•AkLKS  A    CUT'I 


: 


THE  CUTTER  AUTHOR-MARKS. 


WHY  AND  HOW  THEY  ARE  USED.* 

It  has  been  found  convenient  by  librarians  to  arrange  some 
classes  of  books  alphabetically.  In  Biography,  for  instance,  if 
the  books  stand  on  the  shelves  in  the  order  of  the  names  of  the 
persons  whose  lives  they  relate,  one  knows  that  Adams  will  be 
at  the  beginning  of  the  class  and  Washington  at  the  end  and 
Jefferson  somewhere  near  the  middle;  and  one  can  go  to  the 
shelf  and  get  the  life  one  wants  without  having  to  consult  a 
catalog  first,  which  makes  a  saving,  not  only  of  time,  but  o! 
eyes  and  patience.  Moreover,  one  will  find  all  the  lives  of 
Washington  standing  side  by  side,  which  will  often  not  happen 
on  any  other  plan.  In  Fiction  such  an  arrangement,  either  by 
authors'  names  or  by  titles,  is  almost  a  necessity.  In  Poetry 
and  the  Drama  also  it  is  useful;  and,  in  fact,  in  every  class  it  is 
better  than  an  arrangement  by  size,  which  merely  makes  the 
shelves  look  a  little  more  orderly,  -or  by  accession-number, 
which  has  no  advantage  at  all.f 

But  it  is  also  found  that  the  books  must  have  some  marks 
on  the  back  to  keep  them  in  order.  The  binders'  titles  will  not 
do,  because  they  often  do  not  contain  the  word  by  which  the 
book  should  be  arranged;  and  when  they  do  the  arranger 
cannot  always  see  at  a  glance  which  of  several  words  is  the  one 
■  to  arrange  by.  Moreover,  we  want  some  brief  mark  peculiar  to 
each  book,  and  not  belonging  to  any  other  copy,  by  which  to 
charge  the  volume  to  the  borrower.  Therefore  I  letter  on  the 
lower  part  of  the  back  of  each  book: 

1.     In  one  line,  the  letters  or  figures  that  denote  its  class 
and  sub-class. 

•Some  preliminary  discussions  on  this  subject  may  be  found  in  "  Plans  for  number- 
ing with  especial  reference  to  fiction,  a  library  symposium." — Library  journal,  4  :  38-47. 

tThe  plea  that  in  science  accession  order  assists  study  by  putting  the  older  works  at 
the  beginning  of  each  subject  and  modern  works  at  the  end  is  true  only  in  the  rearrange- 
ment of  an  old  library  ;  in  a  new  library,  or  in  the  subsequent  history  of  the  old  library, 
it  would  not  be  valid  unless  libraries  always  bought  books  in  the  order  in  which  they  are 
published  and  never  received  gifts  of  old  books.  Chronological  order,  made  up  as  books 
usually  come  into  a  library,  would  be  a  very  mottled  attair. 

(2) 


2.  In  another  line,  the  initial  of  the  author's  name,  fol 
lowed  by  certain  figures  plained  later  on);  tin's  line 
stands  for  the  ai  raoR's  name. 

3.  In  another  line,  the  initial  of  the  title  (used  only  when 
e  are  two  works  by  the  same  author  in  the  same  sub-class). 

4.  In  the  same  line,  when  there  is  more  than  one  COPY  of 
the  same  work,  I  put  2  for  the  second  copy,  3  for  the  third,  if 
there  is  one,  and  so  on. 

Class                                                           I  I  iss,  Class, 

and                                                                    author  ;uithor, 
author.                                                                   ami  title. 

and  copy. 

Yi                                                                  Yf  Vi 

•DS14                                                              D314-  -D3U- 

r  rJ 

I  '    foe's  Robinson 

Novels.                                                                  Robinson  Crusoe, 

Crusoe.  4tli  copy. 

ALPHABETIC  ORDER. 

Books  "n  the  shelves  are  kept  alphabeted  by  authors  by 
marking  them  with  the  initial  of  the  author's  family  name* 
followed  by  one  or  more  decimal  figures  assigned  according  to  a 
table  so  constructed  that  the  names  whose  initials  are  followed 
by  some  of  the  first  letters  of  the  alphabet,  have  the  first  num- 
bers, and  those  in  which  the  initials  are  followed  by  later  letters 
have  later  numbers. 

E.  g.,  Garfield,  g231  Gore,  g666 

<  .'H-   .  g379  Grand,  g751 

Gilman,  g487  Grote,  g881 

Glover,  g566  Guizot,  g969 

If  the  books  are  arranged  in  the  order  of  these  numbers,  of 

eon'  will  be  in  alphabetical  order. 

TO   USE  THE  TABLE. 

1.  Find  the  first  lew  letters  of  the  author's  name  in  the 
table;  the  figures  following  added  to  the  initial  are  the  mark: 

*In  the  case  of  authorless  bonks  anonymous  works,  periodicals,  government  publi- 
cations, etc.),  the  alphabetical  order  is  determined  b)  the  beading  adopted  for  cataloging, 
according  to  Cutter's  rules  tor  a  dictionary  catalog.  In  Biography,  when  the  Decimal 
ination  is  used,  the  name  of  the  subject  of  the  lite  should  be  used  instead  of  the 
name  ..t  the  author:  in  the  Expansive  Classification,  the  name  ot  the  subject  form 
ot  the  class-mark,  as  Gerry's  Lite.  Eg  379. 


(3)  -  UBRM« 


flSSSS 


E.  g.,  for  the  name  Lounsbury  the  table  gives  Loun  889,  the  mark 
is  lS89.  Aldrich  (Aldr  365)  is  a365,  Terhune  (Terh  318)  t318.  Huxley 
is  h986,  Macaulay  la  m117,  Spenser  s748. 

In  printing  a  catalog,  the  printer  should  be  cautioned  not  to  use  the 
old  style  figures  (1,  2,  3,  4,  etc.),  in  which  the  figure  1  is  the  same  as  the 
"small  capital"  letter  i. 

2.  If  the  first  letters  of  the  name  do  not  occur  in  the 
table  take  the  letters  next  previous  in  the  alphabetical  order. 

E.  g.,  there  is  no  Detm  in  the  table;  for  Detmold,  therefore,  we  take 
the  number  of  Deti  which  gives  d481  ;  for  Pecksniff  the  number  of  Peckh, 
which  gives  p368;  for  Mixter  the  number  of  Mitt,  m685;  for  Fappen  the 
number  of  Fantu,  f218. 

3.  If  the  number  found  is  already  in  use,  annex  another 
decimal. 

E.  g.,  if  one  wishes  to  insert  Herdman  between  Herder,  h541,  and 
Hereford,  h542,  a  fourth  figure  makes  Herdman  h5414.  If,  again,  there 
is  a  Harrison,  Frederick,  h319,  Harrison,  James,  may  be  numbered  with 
a  fourth  figure,  h3193,  Harrison,  John,  h3195,  Harrison,  Louis,  h3197, 
and  so  on.     This  can  be  carried  to  any  extent. 

In  making  such  insertions  it  is  necessary  to  consider  in  what  part  of 
the  gap  the  new  name  will  best  go,  so  as  to  leave  room  on  one  side  or  the 
other  for  future  insertions. 

Except  in  very  large  classes,  like  Fiction*  or  Biography,  one  rarely 
gets  to  the  fifth  figure.  But  bad  judgment  in  choosing  the  fourth  figure 
may  hasten  the  need  of  adding  a  fifth. 

Avoid  using  the  number  1  as  long  as  other  numbers  are  vacant,  because 
when  it  is  once  used  nothing  can  be  inserted  before  it ;  one  cannot  put,  for 
instance,  anything  between  22  and  221.  Zero  should  be  used  only  in 
extreme  cases  because  it  might  be  mistaken  for  the  letter  o  of  a  work- 
mark;  otherwise  220  would  come  between  22  and  221. 

4.  It  is  desirable,  even  in  small  libraries,  to  use  three 
figures  as  given  in  the  table  in  Fiction  and  Biography  (except  in 
certain  letters  such  as  e,  i,  o,  u,  where  the  table  gives  but  two 
figures).  But  in  other  classes,  the  first  two  figures  of  the  num- 
ber are  usually  sufficient,  and  in  very  small  classes,  the  first 
figure  only  need  be  used. 

5.  The  figures  are  to  be  considered  as  decimals,  and 
arranged  on  the  shelf  in  the  order  h2,  h21,  h211,  h2111,  h2112, 
h22,  h23,  h233,  h24,  h3,  and  so  on. 

(*) 


That  is,  all  the  numl  [inning  with  -  come  before  a  number 

beginning  with  '!,  and  all  the  numbers  beginning  with  21  any  begin- 

ning with  22,  and  all  beginning  with  221  b  with  222; 

just  as  in  a  dictionary  all  the  words  beginning  with  before 

nning  with  ac,  and  all  the  come  before  the  acb 


Some  persons  arc  apprehensive  thai  this  decimal 
arrangement  will  be  hard  to  use,  or  at  least  hard  to  teach  to 
stupid  assistants  and  (when  the  public  arc  allowed  to  go  tn  the 
shelves)  to  a  public  unwilling  to  take  the  tn  »uble  t<  >  comprehend. 
It  ma\  be  so  sometimes;  I  can  only  say  that  I  have  never  had 
any  difficulty  with  any<  me,  boy  or  girl,  man  or  w<  iman,  when  the 
arrangement  was  explained  as  it  is  above.  But  if  this  is  con- 
sidered a  seri<  ms  i  ilijccti.  in  tn  the  use  of  these  auth  ir-marks,  the 
difficulty  can  be  entirely  avoided  by  using  two  figures  with  the 
initial  in  all  eases,  treating  them  as  ordinals,  and  when  two 
names  are  to  be  represented  by  the  same  combination,  so  that 
subdivision  becomes  necessary,  starting  a  new  series  of  ordinals 
either  from  1  to  9,  or  from  LI  to  99,  by  putting  a  point  after  the 
first  two  figures,  e.  g.,  H21.1,  or  h21.1  1.  The  stupidest  attend- 
ant could  not  fail  to  comprehend  the  order  h34,  h34.1,  h34.2, 
h34.3,  h34.4,  and  so  on.     As  it  would  be  awkward  to  use  two 

nal  points  (mil. 2.1,  h34.2.2),  it  would  be  well  to  use  two 
figures  after  the  decimal  point  in  very  large  collections,  as 
Fiction  and  Biography,  thus,  h34,  iiM4.11,  h34.12,  h34.13,  etc. 

Of  course  this  ordinal  method  does  not  allow7  infinite  inter- 
calation. A  time  will  come  when  some  new  name  cannot  be 
inserted  in  its  proper  order,  because  its  number  is  already 
occupied.  But  a  notation  consisting  of  an  initial  followed  by 
four  characters  provides  places  for  so  many  names  that  this 
misfortune  will  not  occur  soon  or  frequently.  And  when  it 
does  occur  the  approximate  alphabetical  arrangement  that  will 
here  and  there  result  is  very  much  better  than  no  alphabetic 
order  at  all. 

FURTHER    MARKS.* 

6.  ( >n  the  shelves  three  alphabetical  series  should  be 
made  by  size,  0  including  all  books  25  cm.  high  or  less,  Q 
between  25  and  30,  F  over  30.      These  will  be  indicated  by  the 

*For  ;i  discussion  of  other  methods  sec  Library  notes    vol.  :i. 

(5) 


sign  that  separates  the  class  mark  from  the  author -and -book 
mark,  '  for  O  and  smaller  sizes,  +  for  Q,  ||  for  F. 

In  small  libraries  it  is  best  to  make  only  one  series  of  books  under 
each  division ;  the  few  books  that  are  too  large  for  the  shelves  can  be  turned 
down;  very  large  books  can  be  kept  in  some  separate  case.  But  in  a 
library  of  size,  and  especially  in  a  library  that  has  many  old  books,  there 
are  likely  to  be  so  many  quartos  and  folios  that  provision  must  be  made  to 
keep  them  by  themselves,  and  yet  in  juxtaposition  with  the  smaller  books 
of  their  class. 

It  is  well  always  to  mark  the  books  for  Q  and  F  with  these  distinctive 
marks,-  but  these  two  sizes  may  be  often  mixed  advantageouslv  in  a  single 
alphabet  on  the  shelves,  especially  where  there  are  only  one  or  two  folios 
with  many  quartos,  or  one  or  two  quartos  with  many  folios. 

The  three  size-marks  are  for  marking  the  catalog  and  the  back  of  the 
title-page;  they  are  not  used  in  lettering  the  backs  of  the  books;  in  a 
majority  of  cases  the  book's  size  is  sufficiently  shown  to  the  attendant  who 
puts  it  up  by  the  fact  that  a  Cj  book  will  not  go  on  an  0  shelf. 

7.  In  numbering  Q  and  F  books  a  single  figure  will  usu- 
ally be  enough,  because  there  will  usually  be  few  books  of  those 
sizes  in  any  class,  and  therefore  fewer  marks  are  needed  to  dis- 
tinguish them;  often  the  initial  alone  would  be  enough  in  F. 

8.  Different  books  by  the  same  author  in  the  same  class 
are  distinguished  by  work -marks  consisting  of  the  first  letter 
or  letters  of  the  catch-title  after  a  thin  space. 

E.  g.,  Dickens's  Chimes,  d.548c;  Christmas  carol,  d548  ch ;  Cricket  on 
the  hearth,  d548  cr;  David  Copperfield,  d548  d;  Dombey  and  son,  d548  do. 

9.  Other  eewes  or  other  editions  are  noted  by  adding  2 
or  3  or  4,  as  the  case  may  be,  to  the  work -mark. 

E.  g.,  another  edition  of  Dombey  and  son,  d548  do2. 

10.  The  special  mark  for  translations,  for  use  in  large 
libraries  or  in  large  special  collections  in  a  small  library,  is  the 
initial  of  the  language,  a  capital  letter  added  (after  a  size -mark) 
to  the  author -mark. 

E.  g.,  Goethe's  dramatische  Werke  'g599 

dramatic  Works  -g599-E 

(Kuvres  dramatiques  "g599'F 

Faust  g599  f 

Faust,  in  English  'G599  fE 


II.     [f  there  are  several  translations  distinguish  them  by 
adding  the  initial  of  the  translator's  name  to  the  language 

mark. 

E   |  .   Faust, 


m    tli' 

innl 

, 

G599  f 

English 

by 

Austin 
I  li  i  nays 
Blackie 

I'm  i\\  -    1 

Broi  iks 

199  i    Ea 
g599  i    Eb 
g599  i    Ebl 
g599  i  'Ebo 
g599  P-Ebr 

French 

Blaze  de 

Bury 

g599  F-Fb 

•'       lt;ih. Ill 

•  • 

Maffei 

G599    I'lni 

These  marks  an-  long.     But  it  rmi  I  be  remembered  thai  the  need  for 
such  marks  does  nut  occur  at  all  m  a  small  collection  of  books,  ami  verj 
rarely  in  a  large  one.     Moreover,  if  any  one  wants  to  avoid  them  alto 
gether,  he  can  do  so  by  giving  up  tin-  exact  arrangement  of  versions,  ami 
simply  numbering  texts  and  translations  in  numerical  order  as  they  an' 

ved,  which  is  just  as  well  where  there  is  no  aeeess  to  the  shelves,  and 
almost  as  well  even  where  there  is,  until  the  numlier  of  editions  and  trans- 
lations becomes  very  large,  as  it  would  among  the  classics  in  a  college 
library,  or  in  the  case  of  Shakespeare,  Goethe,  and  Dante,  in  any  large 
general  library. 

1l\  In  Biography,  which  is  to  be  arranged  by  names 
of  the  subjects  of  the  lives,  distinguish  different  authors  by 
adding   their  initials. 

E.  g.,  Chadwick's  Defoe  d314  c 

Morley's  Defoe  i>:'d4  m 

Wilson's  Defoe  i>:il4  w 

L3.  When,  in  a  large  collection,  the  number  of  editions  of 
a  single  work  exceeds  or  is  likely  to  exceed  9,  the  different  edi- 
tions may  be  distinguished  1>\  adding  the  year  of  publication 
(usually  of  the  first  volume,  if  there  are  more  than  one)  instead 
of  a  number  2,  3,  or  4. 

E.  g.,  Paradise  lost,    ed.  of  1667  m662p   1667 

reprint  of  same  m662  p   1667.2 

ed.  of  1732  -m662  p   1732 
ed.  of  1754  m662  p   1754 

Paradise  regained  'm662  r 

14.  If  it  is  desired  to  keep  a  COMMENTARY  on  an}' work 
immediately  after  the  work  add  to  the  work-mark  a  capital 'Y 
and  (if  necessary)  the  initial  of  the  commentator,  For  diction- 
aries and  concordances  add    Z. 

C) 


E.  g.,  Frehse's  Worterbuch  zu  Reuter's  sammtlichen  werken  would 
be  R447-Zf. 

The  various  marks  then  are : 

Class as  Ce 

Size as  ',+,  || 

Author as  d553 

Work as  d 

Copy  or  Edition as  2,  3,  4 

when  very  many. as  1887 

Translation        .     .     .  x as  (into  English)  'E 

Other  copies  of  English  Translation as  'E2/E3 

Translation  by  another  hand  as    (d   being   initial    of 

translator 's  name)  'Ed 
C(  immentary  or  other  illustrative  work     ....     as  'Y 

Dictionary         as  'Z 

Another    .     as  (p  being  initial  of  author  of  dictionary)  'Zp 

NOTES. 

For  a  fuller  explanation,  see  Cutter's  Expansive  classification,  pt.  1 
pp.  139-160.  This  includes  a  way  to  mark  a  large  collection  of  Greek  and 
Latin  classics,  such  as  would  be  found  in  a  college  library,  first  published 
in  the  Library  journal,  11:  280-289.  See,  also,  the  full  scheme  for  mark- 
ing Shakespeare,  Dante,  Goethe,  Moliere,  Milton  collections,  in  the  Expan- 
sive classification,  7th,  class  Literature,  pp.  49-74,  enlarged  from  Library 
journal,  9:  137-139. 

Libraries  which  have  already  used  the  original  two-figure  table,  and  wish 
to  expand  in  certain  classes,  should  use  the  three-figure  Cutter  table  which 
was  made  for  that  purpose.  The  Cutter-Sanborn  table  was  compiled 
for  those  who  desire  a  three-figure  table  which  carries  the  same  principle 
into  the  vowels  and  S;  namely,  the  use  of  the  initial  letter  of  the  author's 
name  with  three  figures,  instead  of  the  first  two  letters  of  the  name  with 
two  figures,  which  is  a  feature  of  the  other  Cutter  tables. 

This  fourth  edition  of  the  Explanation  is  revised  by  Mrs.  Gardner 
M.  Jones,  formerly  Miss  Kate  E.  Sanborn,  the  compiler  of  the  Cutter- 
Sanborn  author  table. 


(8) 


'■mivt  mmi  t  ur- 


3  0112  063985722 


